Monkey Tails
by Jedipati
Summary: Jack the Monkey is an underappreciated character. This is a series of three stories, one from each movie, about the monkey. Third Movie: Mr. Cotton’s Parrot and Jack the Monkey don’t get along very well, not that anyone else notices.
1. Guardian

Guardian

Author: immortal_jedi aka jedipati

Disclaimer: I don't own Jack the Monkey. Nor do I own POTC.

Characters: Jack the Monkey, mentions of others

Rating: PG

Warnings: Mentions of the first movie's events

Summary: Where did that monkey come from, anyway?

Author's Notes: Yes, another series by me. This one, however, will only have a few chapters. I currently plan for one for each movie (if I can come up with something for AWE. Basically, I'm telling stories about Jack the Monkey. The might be related, they might not be.

* * *

I paused and pulled away from the shafts of sunlight shining down from the roof of the cave.

I heard voices.

I didn't recognize the language- it was not the language of the worshippers, nor did it sound like the language of the destroyer and his people. So I waited.

It was nothing to wait. I was used to it. I had waited for a long time. Long ago, when the gold was first cursed by the gods, they asked my people if one of us would be willing to stand guard over the gold.

I was young then, and had only just reached maturity. The males hadn't yet taken an interest in me, so I agreed to go.

The gods took me to the cave where the gold was hidden and bade me to take a piece of the gold so I could stay with it for as long as was needed.

Oh, they did not leave me without hope. They knew that the curse was meant to be a punishment, and they told me how to break it. They said that if I ever grew weary, they would pick a different guardian.

So I waited these long years, here in this cave. I no longer noticed the hunger that could not be satisfied, nor the way my form shifted under the moonlight.

I was lonely, though, and the voices were nice to hear, though they were not those of my own kind. Soon, the men the voices belonged to entered the main cave.

They were an interesting group- and it was clear they were here for the gold. I jumped out of my hiding place and onto the chest.

This startled the men and some of them drew their weapons- weapons that were a little bit like the destroyer and his men's weapons. But different, at the same time.

But their leader laughed and told them something I didn't understand. They put their weapons away. He reached out slowly. I bared my teeth at him, and he paused. Finally, he reached out and gently scratched my head.

It had been a long time since anyone had touched me, and even through the curse, it felt good. I chattered at him.

The man then ran his hand along the top of the chest. Well, I was the guardian, but I was really only here to make sure other animals didn't find it. The curse was designed to punish greedy men, and these men qualified, I could tell.

The men took the gold, all of it, and cursed themselves.

There was no reason for me to stay in the caves now, so I went back with them, perched on their leaders' shoulder. He seemed to like me. At the first stop, he found or had made a set of the clothes, one that would fit me, and dressed me in them. He shared his food with me, though I didn't need it. He didn't realize that, so I appreciated it. He provided a perch for me in his cabin. So, I spent the most time with him. Soon, I realized that the strange word he used when talking to me- Jack- was what he named me. I also learned that he was Captain Barbossa.

In time, however, the men discovered the curse. And, much later, they learned how to break it. Though they didn't learn how to break it until after they had sent one of the men overboard. It was during that time that I mastered my understanding of their language.

For a long time, the men searched for the gold. I helped them, for I was growing weary of the curse, and wished to be free of it, at least for a time. For a long time, we couldn't find the last one, but then the stupid ones (worse then most men, though they never hurt me) brought a girl on board. The girl had the last piece of gold.

Captain Barbossa thought that she also had the blood they needed to break the curse, but I could tell she didn't. I couldn't explain this to him, of course. Still, I had some fun on the journey back to the island, as the girl hadn't expected the curse.

But just as expected, the curse wasn't broken. However, the girl was rescued by a boy who did have what was needed.

I pointed their escape out to Captain Barbossa. The chase that followed was very interesting, but we caught them.

Then Captain Barbossa let the girl go, along with a man he called Jack. Apparently, he named me after Jack. Until that moment, I didn't realize Jack was a man's name.

Should I be insulted? I really wasn't sure. Perhaps it was some sort of insult to the man, who seemed to know Captain Barbossa. Neither of them liked each other, I could tell.

Finally, we returned to the island. I remained on the ship, for I felt that something would go wrong.

Yes, I know I should have been happy that the curse would be broken and I could resume my duties on the island, but I had come to care for Captain Barbossa. He treated me kindly and he liked me as well. He never hurt me, no matter how angry the curse made him. I would miss him, when I had to leave. Yet I didn't want him to be disappointed, for I could tell he suffered under the curse.

And I knew something would happen. The gods would see to it that breaking the curse would not be that easy.

So when the girl returned, I was unsurprised.

I was surprised, however, when after the first moment of fright, she knocked me overboard. Because I was a skeleton at the moment, I fell apart as I entered the water.

It took me some time to get back to normal, and I had just made it to the surface when the curse was broken.

For the first time in a long time- centuries, as Captain Barbossa called them- I felt the night air on my face and the water brushing against me.

I headed for the cave. The _Black Pearl_- our ship- was gone, though the men might return to collect some of the other treasures they had found. But the gold was all back in the chest, so I would have to resume my vigil over it.

I would miss Captain Barbossa and his crew. It had been nice to have companionship these past few years.

I reached the cave and swam for the chest. Once there, I jumped up on it and took a gold piece out again. I shuddered as the curse reclaimed me.

I thought I saw something moving behind me, so I jumped for it. But it turned out that there was nothing there.

But as I was calming myself down, I saw Captain Barbossa lying down near the water's edge.

I went over to him, only to find that he was gone. Dead, as humans call it.

I chattered softly to myself and settled in to wait.

I was sure that men would come again.

* * *

End Notes:

Yes, I made Jack the monkey a girl, just for the laughs. After all he(she) was played in part by two female monkeys.

So, I was inspired to write this because of a recent "secret" on fandomsecrets that mentioned the monkey. I became aware that there aren't really a lot of stories that focus on Jack the monkey. So… I've come up with a couple of ideas. So far- one from each of the first two movies.

Expect a second "monkey" chapter soon.


	2. Catching Jack

Catching Jack

Disclaimer: I don't own POTC.

Author: jedipati aka immortal_jedi

Rating: PG

Summary: "You've no idea how long it took us to catch that."

Author's Note: There has been a minor amount of confusion over this series. The stories are not really related to each other- they just all happen to have Jack the Monkey as their primary focus.

* * *

"Jack, you know she always demands some form of payment, don't you?"

Captain Jack Sparrow turned to face Joshamee Gibbs, his first mate. "Aye," he said. "But you know we are rather short on payment-type goods at the moment." He paused. "And yet, I know just the thing that she would like."

Apparently, Will Turner had developed a sense for when Jack was plotting something. Though, he had realized that Jack had planned something back when they had gone after Barbossa. Will sighed. "Now what?"

"She likes the supernatural," Jack said. "Or the unusual. I bet she'd like an undead monkey."

Will frowned. "Why the monkey?" he asked.

"Because he's unique. She likes unique things."

Will sighed and rolled his eyes, but accepted Jack's answer.

"And how are we supposed to get the monkey to her?" Gibbs asked.

All three of them looked up, where the monkey was scrambling through the rigging.

Jack scowled. "You figure that out. I'll direct us there. Just make sure that he's in a cage when we get there."

Gibbs scowled. "Fine. Pintel, Ragetti, how'd you keep that monster under control before?"

The two former mutineers looked up at the monkey. "Cap'n Barbossa kept him," Ragetti said.

Will muttered something under his breath.

Jack could only guess at what Will had said, but no doubt it was something uncomplimentary. If it was directed at Barbossa, then Jack would wholeheartedly agree.

"Well, then we need t' get it into a cage," Jack said.

No one moved to go after the monkey for a long time, however.

Finally, Pintel climbed up into the rigging after the beast. The other seven men watched as the short, bald man clambered through the rigging with nearly as much agility as the monkey.

Still, when he nearly fell out of the rigging after trying to grab the monkey, and was only saved by a quick grab at the spar, they knew that it wouldn't be that easy.

Pintel made his way down cautiously and stomped away. "Someone else can try t' catch that little monster," he called back.

The rest of them looked at each other. Leech backed away. "I'm stayin' out o' this. Anyway, Cap'n wants me t' stay with the ship."

The remaining men looked at each other. Finally, the parrot flapped its wings. "Don't eat me!"

Cotton disappeared below for a moment and returned carrying a small bowl. Jack stopped in and looked into it. "Ah. Carry on, Mr. Cotton," he said. "Mr. Gibbs- you might want to have the cage ready."

Gibbs hurried down and grabbed a cage. The monkey climbed lower as Cotton set the bowl down.

"Food?" Gibbs asked.

"Why not? It may be an undead monkey, but I don't think it knows that," Jack said.

The monkey dropped down onto the deck.

"Wind in the sails!" the parrot called out as the creature inched toward the bowl.

"Wait for it," Gibbs muttered.

The monkey delicately scoped up a bit of the porridge in the bowl and began to eat.

"Now!" Gibbs whispered.

Marty, the closest to the monkey, jumped at it in the hopes of grabbing it. Unfortunately, the monkey had other ideas, and it leapt away.

Jack cursed briefly, and then pulled out his pistol.

"I don't think that will do any good, Jack," Will said.

"I want to shoot something, and that monkey will do just fine. And maybe that will knock it down so someone can grab it!"

Will sighed. "No, Jack," he said. "Let's try to catch it first."

And they did- try, that is. The monkey didn't take the food bait that they put inside the cage.

Ragetti suggested trying to get it to go after his wooden eye, but the monkey didn't take that bait either.

Will stared up at the monkey while Gibbs and Ragetti argued just how to capture the creature.

The monkey stared back at him, slowly moving lower and lower until it was right over him. "So, why does Jack keep you if you're such a pain?" Will asked softly.

The monkey perked up at the name "Jack" and chattered at him.

It dropped down to land on his shoulder. "Whoa!" Will said. The debate stopped as everyone turned to look at him.

"Ah, I see you've caught the little bugger," Jack said. "Now do you mind putting him in the cage?"

"It's more like he just decided to perch on my shoulder, but I'll try," Will replied. He walked over to the cage and stopped right next to it.

Carefully, he reached up to grab the monkey, who screeched, dropped from his shoulder, and bolted across the ship to the rail.

Will sighed and rolled his eyes.

"That didn't work," Jack said.

"I can see that," Will retorted. He brushed the shoulder of his waistcoat off and muttered something under his breath again.

Jack grinned again, but the grin fell away as he watched the monkey.

His few crewmen had abandoned the monkey chase. Most of them were gathered near the door to Jack's cabin, while Will stood next to the main mast.

The monkey was darting back and forth along the railing.

Jack narrowed his eyes. The blasted monkey had already wasted hours of their time, and they needed to get it into a cage soon.

The monkey paused and jumped down from the rail.

Everyone tensed as it picked its way over to the cage and studied it. The monkey poked the door and jumped back slightly when it popped open.

It poked its head into the cage, then climbed in and starting eating the bait that had been left there.

Will jumped forward and closed the door.

Everyone relaxed.

"Well, aren't we all glad that's over with?" Jack said happily. "And look, there's the river."

The seven crewmen rushed to bring the ship to a halt. Jack remained at the wheel to keep her under control. It was only after they had released the anchor, and they had set the ship to rights did Gibbs grimace. "And now we travel upstream," he said unhappily.

* * *

Author's Note: This is the second of The Monkey Tails. The third, taking place during AWE, is currently still in the planning stage (for one thing, I have to re-watch the scene again so I can get everything right), so it might take a couple of weeks for it to appear.


	3. Rivalry

Rivalry

Disclaimer: I don't own POTC. I do, however, own a little plush "Jack the Monkey" toy.

Author: jedipati aka immortal_jedi

Characters: Jack the Monkey, Cotton's Parrot

Rating: PG

Summary: Mr. Cotton's Parrot and Jack the Monkey don't get along very well, not that anyone else notices.

Author's Note: This is the third of my Monkey Tails, and this little series is now complete. I hope you've all enjoyed this side trip into the animal world.

* * *

The parrot and the monkey were both trying to recover from the dunking they'd received. Jack, for once, agreed with the parrot. What had the humans been thinking? There had to have been a better way to escape from the Locker.

The parrot fluttered over to land on his human's shoulder. Jack the monkey scrambled to a perch nearby.

The familiar sounds of guns cocking drew their attention. The leaders- Captain Barbossa, Captain Sparrow, Will Turner, and Elizabeth Swann, were locking in a standoff.

Jack the monkey pulled out his own little pistol and aimed it at the parrot. Finally, he had an excuse to get rid of the annoying bird! There was room for only one animal on this ship, and Jack was it!

"Parley?" the parrot asked hopefully.

Jack drooped a little when the leaders all started to laugh, but when they got serious again, he grinned.

But then the humans discovered that the guns wouldn't work.

Jack chattered in annoyance. There had to be a way to rid of that blasted parrot.

Nothing presented itself for several days. Jack the monkey spent most of that time sulking. He'd had such a good chance, ruined!

Finally, Jack shook off his bad mood when the parrot flew away just before the battle. That would show the humans who liked the parrot better then him. Jack joined his human as they went to talk to the fish-man and the stuck up man. He didn't understand why Turner was with them, but when Turner joined his human again, in exchange for the Other Jack, Jack was happy about that. He liked Turner better then Other Jack.

Jack stayed below deck for most of the battle. He wasn't going to be very useful, and he didn't want to get in the way of his human's fights.

He followed the two bumblers as they peaked out to see how the battle was going. Turner and Swann were right in the middle of it all, kissing.

Jack didn't quite understand that, so he screeched.

The bumblers didn't like that, so they placed him in a cannon and shot him at the other ship.

Jack screamed as he flew through the air and landed on one of the other ship's crewman. He just barely heard a "thank you, Jack" as he and the other crewman fell onto the deck of the ship.

Jack scurried away, hoping to hide from the fighting. Then, things changed for the worse. Jack watched as Turner was stabbed, and Other Jack did something to make sure Turner stayed alive.

Then, Swann and Other Jack got ready to leave the ship. Jack knew he needed to leave with them, and just barely managed to grab the end of the ropes as they were blown away.

Jack wasn't happy about landing in the ocean, but he bore the indignity with the knowledge that he didn't really have a choice, until he could clamber back on board his ship.

The parrot was gone now; it was his ship!

Not even Other Jack could take it away from him.

The crew handled another ship easily, as Jack knew they could. (Fine, they did have some help from the ship they had just been fighting.)

Jack watched everything from his perch on his human's shoulders.

But, just as Jack was getting ready to celebrate everything, that blasted parrot came back.

Jack began to pout again. He'd had it! He was the ship's pet! And then that blasted bird had returned!

It just wasn't fair.

* * *

So, this wasn't as long as I had expected it to be, but I do hope you enjoyed this, the third and final Monkey Tail.

Hey, there had to have been some reason Jack pulled his gun on the parrot!

Also, since I did confuse my beta on this, I thought I'd explain Jack's gender. In the first Tail, Jack is female, mostly for the humor potential. In the second one, I carefully don't mention gender. In this one, Jack is male, since it seemed to fit better. Just as a reminder, these stories are only connected by the theme of "Jack the Monkey." And we aren't ever given a clear answer as to the monkey gender question in the movies. Since Jack is played by two female monkeys and two male ones, I figured I'd make it up as I went along.

And yes, as far as I've been able to tell, Jack the Monkey pretty much disappears between the Up is Down and Parley sequences.


End file.
